House Hearing On Gun Regulations Delayed By Shooting

News of the shooting early yesterday at a Republican congressional baseball practice is dominating the media. But what most missed, was the canceled hearing to loosen certain gun regulations pertaining to silencers and their use during hunting. It was canceled because of the shooting.

A congressional hearing which was scheduled for early Wednesday morning to debate gun legislation has been canceled until further notice in the wake of the shooting. The House Natural Resources Federal Lands Subcommittee spokeswoman Molly Block confirmed the decision to CNN.

The panel had been due to debate the “Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act,” which includes 18 provisions related to guns and hunting, as well as other recreational sporting and outdoors provisions. The measure would make it easier to purchase silencers, transport guns across state lines, and ease restrictions on armor-piercing bullets. Hope for these bills, is now likely dead, unfortunately.

Today, though, there was one small change in the House. After the shooting, the Natural Resources Committee canceled a hearing over Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan’s proposed bill to deregulate gun silencers. An NRA representative was to have spoken about the issue. At the very least, the cancellation came out of respect for the House’s own victims of gun violence. Here’s hoping their colleagues will continue to keep them in mind. –Vogue

It’s always the fault of the gun and never the human who committed the shooting. A gun cannot shoot itself, yet once again, things are ripe for more gun control laws. Deregulating silencers would have also had exactly zero effect on this incident. But leave it to the hoplophobes to twist around gun laws.